Friday, April 27, 2012

Chainsaw Trial and Emerald Ash borer, etc.

Yesterday an Oregon PowerNow 40 Volt Chainsaw arrived at our house for me use as a trial. It was raining so I had to wait until this morning to give it a try. After reading the manual and speaking with the dealer, I felt confident in giving it a go. (I have used a smaller battery operated chainsaw in the past..Ryobi).

Here is a photo of the chainsaw. Pretty huh. It has the Powersharp built right in so you just move a lever and run it and it sharpens itself..cool. Ok so I needed to get busy as I only have a couple of weeks trial of the saw and a lot to do. Here is a photo of the first tree that I tackled around 10:30 this morning.

this was an ash tree that was killed by the Emerald Ash borer, behind our house . The next one is a part of a Catalpa tree that died, not sure what keeps killing parts of the Catalpa, will have to investigate that farther.

Hoping to save the rest of the catalpa tree. Oh, that shed behind the Catalpa tree was framed in with 7.5 ' pallets..a good recycle project.We have had a lot of wind and snow damage in our woods, so the next several shots are of trees that had the tops blown out of them in the woods and they had to be cut down (bottom parts) and tops cut up.

After working on these back here I had gone through nearly two batteries, I went up by the house and started taking down a larger ash tree that was killed by the Emerald Ash borer and the second battery died, so I stopped and took a break while the batteries charged.

This is how far I got before I had to wait for batteries to charge, really quite a bit done (I also needed a break, guess this was about 2 hours of work to this point).

cutting this ash tree up above used up another battery, here is a close up of what the Emerald Ash borer does to a tree (from just above the base).

they tunnel in the cambium layer just under the bark destroying the tree's ability to take up nutrients. Saw one of the beetles while cutting up this tree, they are MUCH smaller than I realized that they are, not a whole lot bigger than a mosquito, online photos really don't do them justice.

Well so far I'm very very pleased with the saw. It works very well, cuts like butter, lightweight, very easy to operate, even my husband who has a lot of disabilties came out and made a few cuts and said it was a very nice saw. The dealer said that cutting through larger wood like I was doing would go through batteries faster than the smaller wood ..so I got about the number of cuts that I expected. All the wood in the above photos were cut on 3 battery charges.

I am 60 years old and have polyperepherial neuropathy in my hands (and feet,etc.) and arthritis, and I had NO PROBLEM with the saw, and I'm not sore or really tired although did appreciate the rest while the battery was charging. I have had problems in the past with my back and have a replacement hip, but using the saw presented no problems in those areas. I highly recommend it.

Well seeing as how I have the saw for a couple of weeks ..here is what I'm facing that needs to be done:

First, back in the closest part of the woods near our house are a lot of snow and windfall trees as well as trees down cause of insect damage and more dying ash trees.

2 dead trees and one dying from the bottom, I do however leave several dead trees standing for the woodpeckers and other critters that use them for food and nests, but most of the standing ones I'll be removing are dangerous trees that will fall either across trails or could damage other trees or property when they do eventually fall down. Many are also near houses, fences, driveways and roads.

obvious damage to 2 trees

some of the small ash trees LOOK like they would survive, like these..until you look closely at the bark..

then there are the evergreens, some knocked down or branches knocked off of them...

wish I could somehow tie it back up as it isn't broken, but it also won't survive like this. Some other evergreens have something killing them, this one is dying at the bottom and the one next to it has completely died at the top..both have to come down and both are full grown white pines.

Here is another large dead ash tree that has to come down.

and then there are the piles of logs that have to be cut up for firewood (we heat with wood here).

OK, I guess I've downloaded enough pictures for one day, one battery has completed it's charge and the other one just went on so I guess that means it is time for me to get back out there and keep that saw busy........

3 comments:

Ron used the powersharp feature today, and he loved it..just run the saw and pull the lever for 3 to 5 seconds and the saw is sharp, now how easy is that. Finished cutting the bent over tree, only cut off 6' and it popped right back up tall and you can actually walk under it now..so we'll leave it and see if it regrows.

Got a few of the leftover logs cut up from the contractors and a couple of the poles cut up...time to rest.

It makes me sick to my stomach seeing so many trees taken down by this little pest. Your trees look like the decay and break down is much worse then some others I've seen. How many total did you end up having to take down? God bless, and happy gardening,

About Me

As of today I am a 60 (edited) year old woman with a husband who has a disabling head injury and physical injuries. I have lived on this property with my husband for 40 and have a grown son who lives next door.
I am partially disabled but do enjoy working in the yard and gardens.
I use organic and permaculture principles on the property and try to plant as many trees as I can afford each year.
In 2002 we had a housefire that destroyed our gardens, yard and house. We put in a new doublewide home 40 feet behind where our old house was and began to replant the gardens. Our son was given part of our land that was woods and food forest gardens in 2006 so we had to again start over with the food forests.
At this point in time, we are still replanting fruit and nut trees and shrubs as well as perennial food and ornamental plants. Some of the trees and shrubs have begun to bear so we are again becoming more inedependent as far as food goes, although we do not raise domestic animals for food at this time. (just have 2 cats)